Immersion: Day 11
I am currently sitting at a coffee shop in New York City in the midst of so much unacknowledged chaos. Just beginning the start of this 6 month journey. I began 11 days ago, flying into the Fort Wayne Indiana airport and meeting a single team member there, and would soon meet the rest of my team throughout the day. We were driven to the training center where we would spend the next four days in training with several other mission teams. I was a little shocked to notice that when all my team was gathered, there wasn’t a single man present. This induced slight apprehension about 9 women traveling alone across countries, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, and this was certainly mysterious to me. Each morning till late afternoon for those days, we would be in a classroom talking about Loving people through Christ and being taught to recognize cultural differences that we may encounter. Over the course of Thursday all the other mission teams had embarked from the center, and we were patiently anticipating our departure Friday morning. Friday morning came along and we began our 10 hour drive to the extravagant New York City streets, in particular, Harlem, NY. Anyone who has been a student of American history has probably heard the name Harlem mentions once or twice. Frankly, Harlem had not received the most dignified reputation in the books. There was some apprehension throughout the group, but it has all dissolved since the initial arrival. Racially, socially, and politically we were the odd ones out, but with the pure intention of loving people, these differences did not come to the surface of our everyday interactions. We began staying at the Salvation Army center in the center of Harlem, and it has been incredible so far. We spent our first weekend exploring the Big Apple, being the confused and clueless tourists that we were. Monday, day 7, we began working side by side with the Salvation Army, trying to make ourselves available to them in whatever way possible. Everyday in the mornings from 10:30-12:30 some of us are serving food in the soup kitchen, and others are outreaching and trading stories with the less fortunate people we were serving. From 2:30-6 the After School program is in session, a program that cares for children whose parents are not able to retrieve the kids from school until after work. Some of us have been doing that, and some of us have been helping out the Salvation Army Lieutenants. The After School program has been more difficult, and understandably so. It seems as if the teachers for the program are insulted that this group of women feel that they need help to do their jobs. I completely understand, and while we are trying to help in a non intrusive way, we are still trying to figure out a way to serve in a way that there is no “better than thou” miscommunication. Prayers for those relationships would be greatly appreciated. We are doing well, however there has been lots of sickness being passed around, and I pray that our immune systems will be strengthened for the rest of the upcoming 6 months out of country. We will be setting off for Jamaica one week from today, and I pray for peace and assurance for that transition. Thank you all for your prayers, they have truly made a difference for us here. I still am not fully funded, I have $1,979 to raise to complete these 6 months, if you or anyone you know would like to invest in this mission, this is the link you can follow: https://experiencemission.org/sponsor/improfile.asp?sponsoreeid=7BC234F8-4783-4F07-B208-5523C053C46F